Conor Buckley's Douglas had their house in order against Mallow

Not since 2023 when they defeated St Michael’s in a playoff have Douglas reached the Premier Senior Football Championship knockout stages. Not since 2021 have they won more than once in the group stages.

For a side that boasts plenty of quality within their ranks, it’s very much an unwanted record.

And so, facing into a group meeting with Mallow for the fourth time in five years, it was essential that the southsiders came away with the points, particularly when you consider that Carrigaline had already blown the group wide open with their win over the Barrs.

“Every team sets out to win their first match,” said Douglas manager Conor Buckley after the game. “To get two points on the board, to make sure that you know you have to give yourself the best possible chance of getting out of the group, which you know all we can do is control our own.

“Whatever happens in the other games, we certainly can’t influence that,” he added. “All we can do is get our own house in order and make sure we're playing to the best of our ability.” 

Douglas have often struggled to do that. Even last year, despite winning their opening round, they went on to lose their next two. But what differed here, was the level of quality on show and how convincing the City outfit were in their 4-10 to 0-14 win over Mallow.

It marked the first time they’ve scored more than two goals in a championship game since 2020, which came in a 1-14 to 3-5 defeat to Valley Rovers.

“You prepare for every championship as best you can,” Buckley remarked. “You're never going to have all your players available to you, but there's a lot of good players in Douglas and new players came in to take positions this year.

“They're very good players, they're young players and they've learned through the league this year and I'm sure they've learned more today.

“We've learned more from them as well today, he admitted. “At certain stages, especially in the first half against the wind, we were under pressure. You learn what's inside the shirt of the player when they're under pressure like that.” 

They were really forced to show their mettle in the second half as Mallow tried to carve a way back into the game. But Douglas had the door firmly shut, with Dylan Hand and Luis Dwan Fogarty particularly impressive.

“The lads have a decent record at defending, although we did certainly have a few blips during the league of a leaky defence.

“That's obviously something we work on, to make sure that we are a solid defence. Scoring difference obviously comes into it in the round-robin stage, so whether you win or lose a game by a point, you certainly don't want to be giving away goals and taking a hiding from anyone.

“You play what's ahead of you and maybe the wind did aid us with a few two-point shots,” he suggested. “They were able to take a couple of two-pointers in the first half when they had it, so that's the way the cookie crumbles.

“The toss could go the other way and we'd be with it in the first half. They might have it in the second half, so it's a different game against them.

“We just took our chances when they presented them, really. We could have taken more, to be quite honest with you, but we're happy with the result overall.”